Radiological imaging devices currently available on the market have a standard structure including a flatbed on which a patient is placed in order to perform image scanning of the patient. To keep the patient still during the image scanning and thereby ensure the expected performance of the radiological imaging procedure, the bed is typically fitted with straps to restrain the patient. However, the straps may prevent the passage of the X-rays and thereby the correct visualization of the portions adjacent to the straps.
For this reason, in some imaging procedures, the straps covering a portion of the area of interest are practically unusable, and the patient may be required to stay still or held by the operator, who is therefore exposed to the X-rays. Additionally, the radiological imaging device may require a specific detector for each analysis and can perform only one type of analysis at a time.
As a result, in the case in which a patient needs to undergo several analyses, the patient needs to be taken from the radiological imaging device, placed on a treatment or surgical bed, moved, picked up again and then laid on a second radiological imaging device. Such maneuvers often entail problems for the patient and the procedure, and therefore need to be performed with particular care and expertise. Consequently, the length of time needed to perform the aforementioned maneuvers increases.
Additionally, a patient may need to be repositioned for optimal imaging or to allow personnel, such as a physician, to gain access to the patient region of interest without removing the patient or the bed from the radiological imaging device. However, the bed of existing imaging devices does not allow easy maneuver of patients, especially when the patient is secured to the bed by straps or restraints. Consequently, the length of time needed to perform the aforementioned maneuvers increases.